It’s hard to be a fan of a losing basketball team. The Buzz City faithful have been aware of this for a while, but it’s been confirmed again this season. With an improved team and what looked like a wide-open Eastern Conference, Charlotte should’ve been a shoo-in for a playoff spot. Instead, the Hornets sit in 10^th place with less than a one percent chance of making it to the postseason, per FiveThirtyEight. 

It’s not just the losses piling up that’s made things unpleasant. There’s been no shortage of things to make this season feel worse than your typical losing campaign. Health issues ran rampant, with both head coach Steve Clifford and center Cody Zeller missing significant time. Injuries and poor play have made Nicolas Batum’s max contract one of the worst in the league. Trade rumors swirled around star player Kemba Walker, and general manager Rich Cho is currently unemployed. Shortly put, it’s been an eventful season. And for a bad team, eventful generally isn’t the adjective you want to hear. 

Suffice it to say that sometimes it’s hard to stay optimistic about this team. 

Still, it’s unfair to be entirely negative. Sure, things aren’t perfect in Charlotte. But there are things to be happy about. As another disappointing season winds down, it’s good to just focus on those:

Late-Season Record Breaking

If a team isn’t finding success, it might as well find ways to keep the end of the season interesting. In the past few weeks, the Hornets have managed to do just that. Between a 30-point, 30-rebound game for Dwight Howard, a franchise-record 10 three-pointers for Walker, and one of the biggest victories in league history, things have been pretty entertaining down the stretch. Charlotte let its fans down in a lot of ways, but the past week or so has gone a long way towards making up for it.

Kemba Walker’s Continued Brilliance

Despite the terrible season, Walker continues to be an incredible player. He proved that again in the mid-week blowout against the Memphis Grizzlies by scoring 46 points in three quarters. The season marked his second straight All-Star campaign, and he should finish the season as the franchise’s all-time leading scorer. He’s already the leader in three-point field goals made. Those are both impressive and well-deserved accolades for the six-footer that worked so hard to establish himself as one of the league’s most dangerous guards.

There’s a case to be made that the Hornets might’ve been better off by trading Walker and launching a complete rebuild. But keeping him has definitely made the season much more enjoyable and easier to watch. His future in Charlotte still isn’t exactly clear, but the past and present of it have been incredible to watch.

Michael Carter-Williams’ 1-Year Deal

Carter-Williams was abysmal as Walker’s backup this season, and his season ended with a shoulder surgery in early March. The only real positive of his time with the Hornets? The fact that his contract will expire after just one year with the team.

Jeremy Lamb Emerges

Lamb hasn’t had the same NBA success as his former UConn teammate Walker, but he has all the tools. This season, it seems like those tools finally started coming together. Lamb isn’t the All-Star that Oklahoma City was likely hoping for when they got him in the James Harden trade, but he was a valuable player in Charlotte this season. Between Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s continued lack of shooting and Batum’s rough season, Lamb was perhaps the Hornets’ best option on the wing this year. As the team enters an offseason full of questions, the 25-year-old Lamb’s $8 million contract makes him an attractive option either on the trade market or as a valuable piece moving forward.

Dwight Howard’s Play – and Personality

While Howard certainly isn’t the player he once was and hasn't been quite as good as the Hornets might’ve hoped, he’s still been the team’s second-best player by a healthy margin. And the aforementioned 32-point, 30-rebound game is another example of the success he’s been able to find in Charlotte.

But the main positive about Howard’s season isn’t even his play. That would be the fact that the relationships between he and his teammates haven’t noticeably crumbled in a terrible season. For a guy that’s been all but run out of town at every stop in his career, that’s a win. There’s still time, either this season or moving forward, for things to break bad. But at this point, everything is smooth sailing. And that’s big news already.

Malik Monk is Coming

I will keep making this prediction until it comes true. I will speak this truth into the world. Malik Monk is an electrifying player that will eventually find success in this league. For the Hornets’ sake, hopefully that will come sooner rather than later.